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Faces and Voices, Mummy Portraits, Papyri and Contemporary Egyptian Art The John Rylands Library

Faces and Voices was an exhibition held in The John Rylands Library on Deansgate in Manchester City Centre. The exhibition showcased objects such as Roman period papyri and mummy portraits which had been excavated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from the Faiyum area of Egypt, most notably at the site of Hawara by the great Flinders Petrie. Through the exhibit of these objects the exhibition aimed to reconstruct the story of the cultures and people that inhabited Egypt during the Graeco-Roman Period. Hawara Hawara is a cemetery site located at the entrance to the Faiyum oasis in Egypt. Archaeological excavations have revealed graves dating from as early as the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640BC) and the Graeco-Roman Periods (332BC-395AD) which are of course the two periods in Egyptian history when the site and indeed the Faiyum area as a whole was of great royal significance. Most notably, the site is the location of one the pyramids of the 12th dynasty Middle Kingdom monarch, Amenemhat III (the other pyramid of Amenemhat III being located at the site of Dahshur).

Location of Hawara

Pyramid of Amemenhat III at Hawara

Map showing location of Hawara (http://www.kendalluk.com/egyptmap.htm)

Petrie and Hawara


Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated at numerous sites in Egypt between 1880 and 1924. Petrie is today known as the Father of Egyptology due to his archaeological methods which, in the late eighteenth century were revolutionary. In contrast to his contemporaries, Petrie employed methods which required the meticulous recording of every object, from potsherds to large objects such as coffins which led to him having perhaps having discovered more objects than any other archaeologist. Petries methods led to him being instrumental in the training of many future Egyptologists including the

legendary, Howard Carter. During the excavation seasons of 1889 and 1911, Petrie excavated at the site of Hawara where he investigated the pyramid of Amenemhat III. During these excavations, Petire also began to excavate to the north of the pyramid where he found a vast cemetery dating to the Roman Period. During the 1888/1889 season, Petrie excavated approximately 146 burials which contained elaborately wrapped mummies over the faces of which were placed vivid portraits of the deceased. Today these, portraits are known as the Hawara Mummy Portraits. As well as the portraits, Petrie also discovered papyri which dated to the first and second centuries AD. These papyri contained details of loans, agreements, letters, collection of taxes and even a census. Although the names of the owners of the burials are now lost to us (the mummies did not contain any inscriptions), the papyri have enabled scholars to have a snapshot of what life was like for the people of the Hawara and wider, Faiyum region during the Greco-Roman period of Egypts history. Indeed it is this snapshot of ancient life that the Faces and Voices exhibition wished to share with us.

Flinders Petrie (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/newsarticles/0709/07091101)

From Egypt to Manchester


How Did the Portraits and Papyri Arrive in Manchester? As is the case with many Egyptology collections in the United Kingdom, the origins of Manchesters collection can be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the North of West of England in particular, forged close connections with Egypt through the textile trade. At this time, British Archaeologists, including Flinders Petrie, where engaged in excavations in Egypt for which they needed financial support. Petrie, was no exception to this and through a mutual friend, the great Amelia Edwards he was able to secure the financial backing of the extremely wealthy textile, magnate Jesse Haworth whom having visited Egypt himself had become very interested in the culture of Ancient Egypt. As was the accepted practice at this time, excavators such as Petrie, would divide their finds from a seasons work amongst their benefactors, in Petries case Jesse Haworth. In this way, Haworth was able to amass a substantial collection of antiquities which he subsequently donated to the Manchester Museum. Amongst the many objects donated to the museum as a result of Petries excavations are the material excavated from the settlement site of Kahun, the funeral assemblage of the Two Brothers, excavated by Petrie at Rifeh and of course the papyri and mummy portraits from Hawara. Although Haworths collection forms the nucleus of the Manchester Collection, the collection has been enriched from other sources such as The Wellcome Trust. Haworth was undoubtedly, Petries biggest benefactor however he was not the sole beneficary of Petries work as Petrie also kept hold of some objects which he either gave to other museums or displayed within his own collection at University College of London (now named after Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology). As a result many other museums house objects from Petries excavations and indeed the Petries own collection also contains mummy portraits.

Enriqueta Rylands and The John Rylands Library


Enriqueta Rylands (18431908) was the wife of the multimillionaire textile magnate and Philantrophist, John Rylands. John Rylands earned his fortune from inheriting and successfully running his fathers cotton manufacturing company, Rylands and Sons Ltd. In 1823, Rylands moved his company from its base in Wigan to Manchester and proceeded to go from strength to strength making Rylands, Manchesters first ever multimillionaire. constructed a beautiful gothic-themed library on Deansgate in Manchester. The library opened in 1899 and today holds the largest collection of rare books and manuscripts in Britain. Initially the library held some 40,000 books (essentially the Althorp Library collection) however Mrs Rylands continually sought to add to the librarys collection. Indeed it was Mrs Rylands desire to improve the librarys collection and perhapsa visit to Egypt between 190407 that led to the library acquiring one of the great European papyri collections. Today the library remains open to visitors and is free to enter.

John Rylands http://www.library.ma nchester.ac.uk/bulleti n/

Enriqueta Rylands http://www.library.man chester.ac.uk/bulletin/ bulletinoffprints/

John Rylands was an extremely generous man, making donations to aid the poor of Italy as well as opening orphanages and homes for aged women. Rylands leisure pursuits included a love of theology and books which led to his long held dream of opening a library. Sadly in 1888, John Rylands died at his home in Longford Hall . As a memorial to her husband, Enriqueta decided to realise her husbands dream and duly purchased the Althorp Library and with the aid of the architect, Basil Champneys

Faces and Voices Exhibiton


Divided into themes which dealt with subjects such as letters, pleas for justice, loans, marriages and births and even teachings on Christianity, display cases stretched through three different rooms of the John Rylands Library. Each display case contained mummy portraits and papyri which contained information relevant to each theme.

Petries Drawings from his book, Hawara Portfolio: Paintings of the Roman Age (1913)

Loans, Sales and Agreements

Papyrus recording a contract for a sale and loan, the contract is written both in dmeotic and greek which was a requirement of the Roman authorities.

Mummy portrait of an unnamed man dating to 6996AD. Mummy Portrait of an unnamed woman dating to 98-117AD. The detail on the portrait is excellent as we are even able to see the colours of her tunic and even her jewellery.

Letters

Letters covering a variety of subjects including personal correspondence, delivery details and even pages from books that were common in Egypt at that time. Papyrus was an extremely important commodity at this time as is reflected by the use of both sides of the papyrus having been used. Here we can see a number of papyri which contain instructions for the delivery of hay on one side and a medical treatise on the reverse (above left) and an employees report to his master concerning an audience with an administrator.

Mummy Portrait of a young man with a moustache. Again the detail on the portrait is excellent right down to his tunic and red clavus on his shoulder.

Administration Taxes and Census


As is to be expected in the running of a large empire, the Egyptians of the Roman period devoted large amounts of papyri and time to the recording of administrative tasks such as the collecting of taxes. One way in which they accomplished this was in the conducting of a census which enabled the authorities to keep track of house sizes, the population and ultimately of course the collection of taxes.

The Mummy Portrait (left) is of a man with a beard dating to 185195AD whilst the Mummy Portrait (right) is of a lady dating to 138-160BC. Although it is likely that these portraits both originate from Hawara it is by no means certain

Pleas For Justice


As is unfortunately the case today, it seems that that the Roman Period Egyptians also had problems with robberies and fighting. In such a case it seems these people would write to the chief of police and plead their case in the hope that justice would prevail. In many cases it seems that women were greatly involved in these pleas and indeed the exhibition displayed papyri in which a man, Patamouthis accused another man, Herais of inflicting violence on his daughter. On the right can be seen Mummy Portraits of a woman (top) and a young daughter (bottom) which Petrie found in the same tomb and which have been interpreted by scholars as being portraits of a mother and daughter. This conclusion has been drawn as a consequence of the two looking alike however the identification is far from conclusive and indeed scholars have even suggested that the daughter portrait is actually that of a boy due to the traces of curly hair or wreath which can just about be seen on the portrait.

Christianity

In the early centuries AD, Egypt, like many other countries became engulfed in the spread of Christianity. By the third century AD, Christianity had become firmly established in Egypt to such a degree that Christians began to start meeting in groups and debating the growth of the religion. One area in particular that was under debate was the role in which women played within the religion. Above can be seen papyri, known as the Gospel of Mary in which the apostles, Peter and Levi argue as to whether the teachings that Jesus gave to a woman disciple, called Mary, should be accepted.

Bibliography and Credits


Bibliography Baines J and Malek J (1980) The Atlas of Ancient Egypt, published by Phaidon Press Ltd Drower M (1985) Flinders Petrie, A Life in Archaeology, The University of Wisonsin Press, First published in 1985, republished 1995

Illustration Credits
Kendal Uk Map of Egypt (http://www.kendalluk.com/egyptmap.htm Pyramid of Amememhat III at Hawara, photo in public domain University College of London, Flinders Petrie (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0709/07091101) University of Manchester, John Rylands http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/bulletin University of Manchester, Enriqueta Rylands http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/bulletin/bulletinoffprints / All other photographs are copyright of James Parr

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